摘要：The policy of pressure on Croatia as an illustrative - although not isolated - example has not inspired empirical and theoretical studies of this phenomenon. The discussion has remained at the level of everyday political discourse, even “coffee-house politics”. Due to its extreme topicality, as well as its theoretical “solvency”, the author has attempted with this essay to come up with a theoretical definition of the concept of pressure and to demonstrate on the Croatian example its goals, scope, dynamics and future prospects and outcomes. Among the existing approaches, the author has chosen the “politico-economic approach” which defines the policy of pressure as a specific form of political communication between the “centre” and the “periphery” in Wallerstein’s “world system”. The example of Croatia serves the author as an ideal-type model of such communication through a combination of political science and sociological analysis. In his opinion, and due to certain favourable contingencies, Croatia is the nearest to the ideal type of such communication. Due to a lack of systematic empirical data, the discussion naturally remains at the theoretical-hypothetical level, and should be understood as an invitation to further discussion and as an incentive for more extensive empirical research. However, since this is a very dynamic phenomenon, the question is: is the author’s argumentation still valid today as it was at the time when the essay was written? There have been two changes: (1) the war on Kosovo which proves the author’s hypotheses; and (2) a certain “thaw” in the relations between the international community (particularly USA) and Croatia (it is still unclear whether this change concerns the fundamental strategic trends or is solely a “politicometeorological” phenomenon (the alteration of colder and warmer periods). This is why the author did not deem any alterations in the text necessary; one should wait and in the meantime expose the (hypo)theses to some critical scrutiny.
